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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467667">Round Ten</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriaSeneca/pseuds/VictoriaSeneca'>VictoriaSeneca</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Emmerdale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:33:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>910</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriaSeneca/pseuds/VictoriaSeneca</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A short scene that takes place later that night on Tuesday Jan 28th. Starts with the nagging question many have been asking.<br/></p><p>Presented unedited and without my usual minimum day or two to let something marinate. Remember, they’ve been hashing things out all day so the filters are starting to break down.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Round Ten</h2></a>
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    <p>Pale with exhaustion, Vanessa continues to pace back and forth around the room as Charity reclines on the sofa, fingers against her temples as if she could rub away the events of the past twenty-four hours.</p><p>“I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me straight away what had happened when you called me?”</p><p>“Ding! Round Ten then?”</p><p>Charity didn’t need to turn around to feel Vanessa glaring at her.</p><p>“I told you. Ryan was shaking he was so upset and I just wanted to make it better. I know what it’s like to feel powerless, to be locked up like an animal only you can’t fight back. I didn’t want him to feel like that.”</p><p>Sitting up, Charity faces Vanessa and endeavors to make her understand once more.</p><p>“Graham, he’s not human babe. A verbal beatdown doesn’t even register with him. I knew he needed that money and it didn’t belong to him in the first place. So yeah, yeah, we nicked it because <em>Ryan</em> put in the work and <em>Ryan</em> deserved the reward. He deserved to get what he was due Vanessa!”</p><p>“So you thought taking dirty money would make <em>Ryan</em> feel better? When you took that money from Bails, did that make <em>you</em> feel better?”</p><p>Charity glowered in an effort to control her rage.</p><p>“This is <em>nothing</em> like that. This wasn’t hush money. He <em>earned</em> that cash!”</p><p>“The circumstances are different but the motivation’s just the same and the end result for Ryan is what? Sleepless nights? Taking that money from Bails ate away at you and <em>this</em>… <strong>this</strong> is going to tear Ryan up just the same.”</p><p>Charity huffed out a laugh.  “I love you Vanessa, but you’re just not made of the same stuff as …”</p><p>“… as what? A Dingle? You can’t be serious.”</p><p>“I was protecting my son!” Charity pleaded as if the louder she said it, the truer it might be.</p><p>“Protecting him? How do you figure? By promoting him from accessory to a crime to full on felon? You found out he was playing with fire and instead of putting a lid on it, you added lighter fluid and jumped into the flames yourself!”</p><p>Vanessa walked over to Charity to ensure she was in her line of sight.</p><p>“Have you looked at him Charity? Can you not see how this is eating away at him? Maybe some of you Dingles can sleep well at night after something like this but not Ryan. He isn’t like that. His Dingle DNA doesn’t give him some magical powers to rip people off and be arm’s-length from a murder without serious anxiety. And you should have thought of that, thought about <em>him</em> first, thought about your whole family, not just you and your insatiable need for revenge.”</p><p>Charity, fighting back, met Vanessa’s stare. “You didn’t see how he looked when I pulled him from that shed. He was <strong><em>crying</em></strong> Vanessa. A grown man, crying because he was treated like a child by that lunatic tin man. I did what I had to do to help him feel like he has a say in all this.”</p><p>“You only ever know how to instigate. Agitate. I should have believed you when you said you’ve never encountered a situation you couldn’t somehow make worse cause you’ve done a bang up job with this one.”</p><p>“Wow! Well we can’t all be as perfect as you, can we? Never met a tense situation you couldn’t diffuse with some wise words and some milky tea.”</p><p>“And your solution is much better right? Ryan got his payday and now he can lie awake every night in fear of when the police are going to come for him. How is <em>that</em> taking back any power? You know damn well it was your idea to nick the cash, not his. You didn’t give him back his authority Charity, you just added to the list of crimes he committed and got your grubby hands on Graham’s cash with <strong><em>no</em></strong> regard for how this would affect Ryan and the rest of the family long term. I love you Charity but I hate the decisions you’ve made.”</p><p>With a laugh, Charity shakes her head.  “I see, you think I’ve made bad choices like a toddler painting on the walls? It must be <em>exhausting</em> for you keeping track of all the bad ways I go about trying to take care of my family. Do you <strong><em>ever</em></strong> get tired of treating me like a child?”</p><p>“Do you ever get tired of <em>acting</em> like one?”</p><p>Vanessa pauses, recognizing that talking in circles has led them to a place where their arguments are callous and unlikely to yield resolution.</p><p>“At least the division of duties in this family is clear then. I can always count on you to coach our kids on vindictive behavior and criminal activity. We’ll leave it to me to help them cope with their emotions in ways that won’t land them in jail.”</p><p>Vanessa walks towards the stairs, spent for the night, spent for the foreseeable.</p><p>“Where are you going?”</p><p>“I’m getting off the carousel for the night. I’m tired and I need to put some space and time between me and all this for now.”</p><p>Charity sat in the living room wondering what Vanessa meant. How much space? How much time? She too was knackered but Charity didn’t bother going to bed straight away, hoping to delay the tossing and turning that would greet her once she did.</p>
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